


get it right or you’re history

by ohallows



Series: cloud country [3]
Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, No Angst, it’s just fluff!!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-09
Updated: 2019-07-09
Packaged: 2020-06-25 01:36:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19735726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohallows/pseuds/ohallows
Summary: Today was the big day, after all. The Brass Scale was opening for business, all of the work he and Zolf (well, mainly Zolf, but Hamid was there for moral support so that counted for something) had done was about to be tested, and Hamid was doing his level best to not shake out of his skin.





	get it right or you’re history

**Author's Note:**

> alex is (hopefully) asleep post fluff before he can break me tomorrow
> 
> recommended listening: eat your heart out by walk the moon & polaroid by jonas blue

The grocery store in town wasn’t too far from Hamid’s house, but he had still asked Zolf to give him a ride to the store, and had been surprised to see Sasha in the bed of the truck when Zolf came by to pick him up. The drive down to the store didn’t take long, and Hamid leaned against the windowsill while Zolf played some old country song on the radio. Sasha hopped down from the bed as they pulled into the store, hands stuck in the pockets of her jacket as they headed to the front. 

“Why did we have to tag along, again?” Sasha asked, rifling through the different newspapers in the stand as Hamid grabbed a shopping cart. “M’not complaining, I swear, it’s just that this is shopping? And that’s normally a solo gig, yeah? And I’m just - just not sure why we needed three people to help grab things from the store.”

“Well, I thought only Zolf was coming?” Hamid said, giving him a confused look. “Not that I don’t want you here too, Sasha! I love spending time with you.”

“I had to pick Hamid up because he doesn’t have a car yet and you happened to be hanging around the farm when I had to leave,” Zolf answered, tossing a box of granola into the cart as Hamid walked by. “So now we’re helping Hamid buy groceries.”

“I can buy groceries for myself, thanks,” Hamid said. “I’m not completely incompetent.”

Sasha hopped on the other end of the cart, resting her chin on her hands and letting Hamid push her along. “Did you even make a list, mate?”

“No, but -“

“And do you know what you want to make?”

“Well, I -“

“Hamid, have you actually been shopping before?” Sasha asked, exchanging a loaded look with Zolf.

“I - yes, obviously I have!” Hamid sputtered in return. “I would go shopping with friends in uni, and we might not have bought anything other than chocolate, but I’ve been shopping!”

“How much do you think a pint of milk costs?” Zolf asked, obviously hiding a hint of a smile as he leaned on the cart.

“I couldn’t possibly know, we don’t use British currency in Cairo,” Hamid said airily, waving him away and walking off to the next aisle.

“Hamid, we both know you went to a private school in Britain and to university here, there’s absolutely no way you don’t know British currency,” Zolf said, smirking. Sasha quickly stepped in front of the display, blocking Hamid’s line of sight.

“...I don’t know, five pounds for a pint of milk?” Sasha and Zolf exchanged a look. “What?” 

“Hamid, a pint of milk is about 50p.”

Hamid pouted, pushing the cart ahead. “I don’t know why I spend time with you all when you bully me. And I could be  _ worse _ , you know. My friend from uni, Bertie, once told me that shopping was below him, only meant for plebeians and poor people. Oh! He also said that - wait, no, I don’t want to repeat it in public.”

“Well, he sounds like an arse,” Zolf said, folding his arms. Sasha made a quiet noise of agreement. They’re right; Bertie had been more than a bit of a dick, and hadn’t been a great friend to Hamid in the time he’d known him. Not to mention how he’d mistreated his dog (who had, in a moment of brilliance not usually exhibited by dogs, run off and never come back). 

Zolf held Hamid back while Sasha kept going, picking up some of the items and muttering about how they were, frankly, way too expensive, before setting them back down on the shelf. 

“Hey,” Zolf said, turning Hamid around to face him. “Are you actually upset? We can stop, me and Sasha, just say the word.”

Hamid shook his head. “I appreciate you saying that, but it doesn’t really bother me. I know I had a different upbringing than you two.”

“Okay, good,” Zolf said, looking visibly relieved. “Didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Hamid… didn’t know what to say to that. Even back before university, no one had really paid a lot of attention to how something made him feel. He was the only Egyptian kid and one of the few students of color at his private school, and most of the boys there hadn’t cared about how he felt as long as they were having fun. And considering he’d only met Zolf a few days ago, something he really hadn’t expected. 

He smiled, resting a hand on Zolf’s arm. “You wouldn’t,” he said sincerely, before heading off after Sasha. 

It became a bit of a game for them after that, Zolf and Sasha pointing out increasingly ridiculous items and asking Hamid how much they were, and him responding with increasingly ridiculous amounts. An apple was 10 pounds, a roll of trash bags was 30 pounds, and the fancy expensive organic spread was  _ clearly _ over a hundred pounds. They got some actual shopping done as well, Zolf tossing some familiar and some unfamiliar items into the cart and promising to teach Hamid some recipes if he couldn’t figure something out.

“Maybe we could grab some stuff for the shop, too? I’m not sure if they have paint here…” Hamid said, wandering down another random aisle after Sasha, with Zolf bringing up the rear with his hands in his pockets, 

It turned out that they did, stocked away in the back. There weren’t a lot of colors, but it would do the trick. Hamid rifled through a few of the swatches on the wall before pulling out one of the darker brown colors. It basically matched what the tables already had, if a little bit darker. This would make it a lot easier to repaint, since he wouldn’t have to worry about stripping the color or doing more than a few coats to make sure it didn’t chip. 

“This is perfect,” he said, holding it out to Zolf and Sasha.

“Sure you want that color? And that many litres of paint? We don’t have that many tables.” Zolf lifted one of the cans and set it down in the cart, eyeing it a bit critically.

“I mean,” Hamid said, turning toward the two of them and gesturing vaguely at the litre of paint in their cart with a smirk on his face. “This can’t be more than 500 pounds, yeah?”

Zolf and Sasha burst out laughing, and Hamid couldn’t help but chuckle too, and then all three of them were nearly howling, half bent over in the middle of the grocery store aisle and unable to stop laughing.

—

“Hamid, can you hand me the Allen key?” Zolf said, muffled from where he lay under one of the counters. 

“Of course -” Hamid said, heading back to the toolbox and digging through the top. “Uh, which one is that again?”

“It’s a special wrench, need it for the screws under here. It’s like a long black rod,” Zolf explained.

There… weren’t any long black rods in the top of the toolbox. Hamid pulled open some of the drawers, digging through them and looking for the wrench. 

“Oh, here,” he said, bringing it over to Zolf. “This what you were looking for?”

“Thanks,” Zolf grunted, grabbing the tool. “Uh, Hamid, this isn’t an Allen wrench.”

“Are… are you sure?” Hamid asked. Zolf rolled himself out from under the counter and stared up at Hamid with a confused expression, bordering on exasperated. 

“Am I - yes, Hamid, I’m sure this isn’t an Allen wrench,” Zolf said slowly. “The Allen wrench is in the drawer in the back.”

Hamid nodded sheepishly and headed back to the toolbox, rooting around in the back of the toolbox. “This it?”

“Nope, that’s a bradawl.”

“How about this?” Hamid said, holding up another tool. 

“Hamid, that’s a screwdriver.”

“I… knew that.”

Zolf sighed and stood up, wincing a little bit as he put weight on his leg again. “It’s like a little hook with a hexagon on one end.”

Hamid dug through the toolbox again, and finally saw what Zolf must have been asking for. “Is this it?” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Zolf said, grabbing the tool from Hamid and laying back down under the counter. “Just need to get these screwed in and we should be good to go on this set.” He rolled himself out from underneath the counter again. “Mind grabbing me the caulking gun?”

Hamid’s smile fell. “Uh… of course,” he said, and started reaching toward the toolbox again when he heard Zolf’s muffled chuckle. He turned around and sure enough, Zolf was watching him with a hand over his mouth, eyes crinkled up as he tried not to laugh. 

“Mr. Smith, are you  _ mocking  _ me?” Hamid asked, unable to keep himself from smiling. “And after all the help I gave you today, too.”

Zolf laughed out loud at that one, glancing from his own sweat-soaked shirt to Hamid’s barely-dusty one. “Yeah, I can see how helpful you’ve been, Mr. al Tahan.”

“I - I’m here for moral support!” Hamid exclaimed, trying to school his face into a disapproving frown (and clearly failing, based on the fact that Zolf was still laughing).

“Hamid, I don’t really need the caulking gun, and I don’t actually have one here,” Zolf said, laughing. “But thank you for providing moral support.”

Hamid wasn’t going to sink low enough to throw the random towel on the table at Zolf, even if he did consider it for about five minutes. In the end, it didn’t matter. Hamid got him back with the hose when Zolf wasn’t paying attention, anyway.

—

“Sasha, I need your help!” Hamid called, running into the antique shop and stumbling to a halt in front of the desk she was sitting at. To her credit, she didn’t move, just slowly turned and peered up at him through the magnifying glass.

“Alright, Hamid?” she said, giving him a quick once-over. He shook his head, climbing onto the chair across from her. 

“Zolf isn’t answering me but we need to get the counters finished soon cause the shop opens in three days and I didn’t know if you'd heard from him?” 

Sasha shrugged, going back to examining whatever gem she had been looking at. “Probably in the mines? With Feryn? Dunno, mate. Sorry.” 

Hamid swore under his breath. “If you see him, can you tell him to call me? The tables aren’t painted yet and we were supposed to finish them up.”

“Me and Azu can come help out, Hamid,” Sasha said, gently setting the gem down off to the side. “I’ll swing home to pick her up and then we’ll head round yours after I close up here. Azu’s real good at stuff like this, yeah, so she’ll be able to help you out, and I’m, well, I’m not great at following directions, but how hard can painting be, anyway?”

Hamid moved to give her a hug but stopped, waiting for Sasha to reach out to him and pull him in with an arm around his neck. She awkwardly patted his back before letting go, sinking back into her seat. He had things to work on that weren’t tables, anyway, and it would be a great distraction from worrying about where Zolf was or if he was safe.

Azu and Sasha showed up at his house together a few hours later, Sasha carrying about three boxes of large pizzas with a grin stretched out across her face. Hamid gave them both a hug, chatting to Azu while Sasha went to go set the pizzas down in the other room. 

“Food first?” he said, clapping his hands together. Azu and Sasha nodded, and they all tucked in, talking about town gossip and how Azu’s work at the medical station and Sasha’s work at the antique shop was going. After dinner, Hamid dragged the paint containers into the other room, standing shoulder-to-... well, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Sasha, and shoulder to torso with Azu. 

He gave them both a brush and they got to work, covering up the old stains and imperfections on the tables with the new color. It was slow-going; the tables were long, and they had to be careful to not let the paint drip too much on the legs. 

“Grizzop said he’ll come over tomorrow night to help if we don’t get it all done,” Sasha said, when they were each slowly working through their second table. “Could probably get Veeseek to help too.”

“That would be lovely!” Hamid said, absentmindedly checking his phone again. Still no texts from Zolf; not even a notification that Zolf had seen the message. It had been a couple of hours by this point, and Sasha was probably right, Zolf was just spending the day in the mines without having told him, but Hamid wanted to make sure that -

“Hamid, mate, you’ve checked your phone ten times in the past minute, what on earth could you be lookin’ for,” Sasha asked, deftly plucking his phone out of his hand from where she was hanging upside down over one of the (unpainted) tables. He made an grab for the phone but she was too quick, tucking it into the waistband of her jeans and curling up around it. 

Hamid made one more attempt for the phone, falling just short as Sasha scrambled away from him across the table. She really was unfairly agile. “I’m just looking for a message from Zolf! I haven’t heard from him all day and he might be down in the mines but I just want to be sure he’s okay.”

Sasha and Azu shared a loaded look, and Hamid’s gaze flitted between the two of them. “... What?” he said slowly. Sasha tossed his phone back. 

“Take it from someone who knows him, yeah? He’s down in the mines with his brother. Feryn’s good at his job. Zolf’s good at his job, if a bit slow with that leg of his. There aren’t… that many monsters down there? Sometimes?” Azu laid a hand on Sasha’s shoulder and she stopped talking, making a weak gesture for Azu to continue. 

“Zolf and Feryn are both fine,” Azu said. “I’m sure nothing has happened to them, Hamid. I would have heard if it had.” She waved her phone at him; since she was one of the few workers at the local hospital, there was no way she wouldn’t have heard about it. At any rate, there’s no way Grizzop wouldn’t have called Sasha to come drive Zolf home. 

“You’re right,” he said, grinning tiredly. He left the phone in his room after that, because if Zolf hadn’t texted him back yet he probably wasn’t going to until tomorrow anyway, and Sasha said that he was with his brother in the mines, and frankly it was a bit ridiculous for Hamid to be worrying this much about a man he’d met a little over a week ago, even if they all had become pretty close in such a short span of time. Obviously he’d feel the same for Sasha and Azu and Grizzop, too. But it was distracting, and they did need to get the tables painted, so into the room the phone went, and back out Hamid went to finished up what they could tonight.

(Later, after Hamid went to sleep, he got two more texts on his phone - both from Zolf, one apologizing for not responding quicker, since service is so crap in the mines and one, ten minutes after, saying that it was late, Hamid was probably asleep, and to sleep well.)

—

The next morning had Hamid waiting outside of the shop, sitting on a small bench and watching down the road for Zolf’s truck. It didn’t take long for the dust to appear and for Hamid to hear the engine running as it made its way across the gravel path. 

He waved to Zolf while Zolf backed up as close to the door as he could get it and threw it in park, hopping out of the driver’s side and heading around to the back. “We’ve got a lot of crates full of stuff, hopefully enough to get you through the first week.” He popped the trunk open and effortlessly hopped up into the bed of the truck, sliding a few of the crates closer to the edge before jumping back down more carefully. With two of the crates stacked on top of each other, Zolf headed toward the shop. “Grab one and we can start setting everything up.”

Hamid reached over and grabbed one of the crates, hesitating. 

See, it wasn’t that Hamid was  _ weak _ , but the crates were incredibly heavy and his time in uni hadn’t really focused on lifting anything heavier than three wine bottles at one time. So it stood to reason that he was eyeing the crates full of fruits and vegetables and bread and (he shuddered)  _ monster parts _ with more than a little apprehension. He reached out to pull one of the ones that looked less full out of the back and let out a tiny gasp as he bore the full weight, staggering back a step. Gritting his teeth, he took slow, measured steps toward the shop, arms starting to shake before he even made it to the door. 

Zolf popped out and gave him a  _ very _ concerned look, opening his mouth as though he was going to say something, before turning and grabbing another crate.

Hamid made it inside and dropped the crate on the nearest table, gasping for air as his muscles ached and his arms started to regain some feeling. There was a soft thud next to him and he whipped around to see Zolf setting down two crates next to him, sleeves rolled up to show a set of tattoos on his right arm. Hamid peered over but couldn’t make any of them out, dark ink standing out sharply against Zolf’s brown skin. There were swirls and bands tracing their way down his arm before coming to a stop right above his wrist.

“Do you, uh, want me to bring the rest of them in, Hamid?” Zolf‘s voice knocked Hamid out of his thoughts as he came over and leaned back against the table next to Hamid. 

Hamid tried to smile, but was pretty sure it came out like more of a grimace. “No, no, no, it’s fine, I can do it! Just, maybe, I’ll grab some of the smaller ones…?”

Zolf, for his part, did not look convinced. “Are you… sure?” Hamid nodded emphatically, but Zolf just frowned.

“I really don’t want you to hurt yourself before the grand opening. How about you pull them down from the truck and hand them off to me, then I can carry them in?”

“That… sounds like a good plan.”

They got through the crates quickly after that, Hamid handing them off to Zolf (usually with more effort than it took Zolf to bring them into the shop, but Zolf had a lot of muscles and obviously did this all the time, so Hamid tried not to feel too badly. And if he had to stop and take breaks, he was pretty sure Zolf wasn’t judging him at all, so there was that). In no time, the crates had been lugged inside and Zolf and Hamid were standing and surveying the space. It had cleaned up significantly since Hamid had first taken a look at the shop, with new finished wood making up the counter space and a new register standing up at the front. With all the crates laid out, Hamid started instructing Zolf on where to move things, starting to place things down himself. Fruits on one side of the shop, vegetables on the other, and the… monster parts… set up behind the desk (at Sasha’s recommendation, actually) with price tags hanging from the boxes. 

Everything was starting to come together.

“Are you ready for tomorrow?” Zolf asked, setting up one of the tables while Hamid worked on the other. 

“Yes, of course!” Hamid said, wiping off the table up at the front. “Couldn’t be more ready, can’t wait, why?”

“Really?” Zolf asked, raising an eyebrow. “You don't… sound like it.”

“I’m fine!” And if his voice was a little bit higher than normal, that was just from the exertion, right?

Zolf folded his arms. “Hamid.”

Hamid sighed. “Well… I’m excited for tomorrow, but I just want it to all go well.”

“It will. You’ve put a lot of work into this place,” Zolf said. “It’ll be fine.”

Hamid smiled and pulled Zolf into a hug. After a moment, his arms came up around Hamid and he awkwardly patted him on the back. 

“Thanks, Zolf.” He let go and Zolf took a step back, cheeks a faint shade of red. 

“Uh - yeah, no problem, Hamid.”

—

Hamid’s hands fluttered nervously over the front of his shirt, trying to smooth down any wrinkles that might have appeared in the hour it’s been since he ironed it. 

Zolf leaned against his shoulder gently, a reassuring press of warm skin against his. “Hey,” he said, concern evident in his voice. “It’s gonna be alright, yeah? Nothing to worry about.”

Hamid pressed back into his shoulder gratefully, giving him a faintly sick smile. His stomach had been off for the past two days, and he’d barely been able to sleep over the past week leading up to now. 

Today was the big day, after all.  _ The Brass Scale _ was opening for business, all of the work he and Zolf (well, mainly Zolf, but Hamid was there for moral support so that counted for something) had done was about to be tested, and Hamid was doing his level best to not shake out of his skin. He’d called his parents to let them know about the grand opening; his mother had seemed excited, and as always his father had been impossible to actually read with his short, “Well done, son.”

It had been a long few weeks of prep and stress, with Hamid (and Zolf, sometimes) pulling late nights trying to get everything organized and together before the opening. Sasha and Azu had come over some nights to help with some minor things, and even Grizzop had dragged his friend Veeseek over to start setting some of the shop up when Zolf had been busy. 

“It’s going to be fine. It’s going to be fine,” Hamid muttered to himself under his breath as he went over to the sturdy oak door of the shop. He turned back and gave Zolf one last pleading look, which was met with a fond eye roll and a double thumbs up, and then Hamid took a breath, steeled his nerves, and pushed open the door of the shop. 

“Good morning, and welcome to  _ The Brass Scale _ ! My name is Hamid, how can I help you today?”

**Author's Note:**

> so it’s been one (1) day since our last nonsense in the rqg tag :/ anyways sometimes you gotta say fuck it and rush to finish a fic for Reasons


End file.
